May 20, 2010

Philosophy – 11

I am hypothesising about possible explanations
You are guessing
He’s talking rubbish

Addendum: The point, of course, is that your interpretation of an individual’s words may be critically affected by who the individual is. The use of the expresssion “English irregular verb” to describe this phenomenon was current around the time that I was at University.

Related

Haiku?
Honestly, I don’t get the joke. Or the philosophy. The only irregular verb I can spot is “to be”.
I am hypothesising that this might be due to the fact that English is my second or third language. But then again, it might be just rubbish, I’m guessing.

I don’t expect every to understand the intent of everything I write so (particularly for people to whom English is a 2nd, 3rd, or Nth language, but also to those for whom irony is similar to steely) : the “irregular verb” is a traditional form of English humour in which the actions of an individual can be hugely restated depending upon your point of view, for example: “I am decisive”, “You are stubborn”, “He is bloody-minded”.

The humour lies in the extremes between the “I” and “He” forms, and the necessary conflict between diplomacy and bluntness when choosing the “You” form.

The philosophy underlying the humour is the reminder that we sometimes discard a suggestion because of the source, rather than the content. Remember the comment from Galileo: “I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.”

I am born and bred English, with English ancestry, and once took part in a Morris Dancing festival (I am not proud ofit – just making a case for myself) and have laughed even at one or two of Stan Boardman’s better attempts at humour. But I’m still baffled by your examples. Sorry!